Group Influence

Group Influence
Christin Patchin
PSY/400 Social Psychology
Jodi Clarke
March 23, 2015

Part 1
How were the people arranged in the physical environment (layout of room and seating arrangement)?
The employees of Chipotle are sitting in a circle in the dining room.
What is the composition of the group, in terms of number of people, ages, sex, ethnicity, etc.?
There are a total of twenty-six people. There are fifteen girls and eleven boys. Ages range from sixteen to twenty-five. There is a range of ethnicity.
What are the group purpose, mission, and goals?
There mission is to change the way people think and eat fast food by creating a team of top performer and empowering them to achieve high standards.
What is the duration of the group (short, long-term)? Explain.
It varies because Chipotle is always hiring new employees and letting go of low performers.
Did the group structure its discussion around an agenda, program, rules of order, etc.?
They structure their discussion on how to make the store better to get the title of restaurateur. Restaurateur is a culture where everyone works together as a family, ownership of the store is everyone and if something needs fixed everyone is quick to say something.
Describe the structure of the group. How is the group organized?
There is a general manager, an apprentice, service manager, kitchen manager and crew.
Who are the primary facilitators of the group?
Everyone is a primary facilitator because everyone is a top performer and their goal is to make the people around him or her and Chipotle better.
What subject or issues did the group members examine during the meeting?
The group talked about who is next to be promoted. How close the store is to be coming restaurateur and the themes they gain in order to have a chance of becoming restaurateur.
What types of information did members exchange in their group?
Ideas on how to help the store gain the themes needed, how to pick top performers while interviewing, and who could possibly be a future manager.
What were the group 's norms, roles, status hierarchy, or communication patterns?
The general manager normally starts the meeting. They will start with a topic and then everyone gives their feedback on the topic. The general manager or apprentice then starts the next topic of the meeting. This continues until it is time to wrap up the meeting.
What communication patterns illustrated if the group was unified or fragmented? Explain.
I would say the communication pattern would be a wheel because everyone shares everything with everyone. Sometimes it is hard to get a word in with everyone wanting to share his or her ideas. The only difference though is that everyone can connect with everyone.
Did the members share a sense of identity with one another (characteristics of the group-similarities, interests, philosophy, etc.)?
They are all working together to get the same goal, the title of restaurateur. Everyone is always working on finding someone new to promote.
Was there any indication that members might be vulnerable to Groupthink? Why or why not?
I would say no there is no indication of members being vulnerable to groupthink. This is because not everyone is the same. Yes they all have the same training tools however everyone uses them differently to make sure everyone gets the full effect.
In your opinion, how did the collective group behaviors influence individual attitudes and the group 's effectiveness? Provide your overall analysis.
The group gave feedback to everyone and now they can use that feedback to become better and to make other people better. So I would say that it had a positive influence on individual attitudes and the group’s effectiveness.

Part 2

A group is two or more people who interact with and influence each other (Myers, 2010). The dimensions of a group can extend further than that. The behaviors of members has an affect on other members of the group, events in the group affect all the members as well. The group’s behaviors affect the success of the group. The crew and manager found at the Lynnhaven Chipotle is one such group. There is unity and organization in this group. There is social influence in the group when individuals interact with each other. Sometimes it can have a positive or negative effect on an individual or the group. The Lynnhaven Chipotle crew is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This group is just a small number of the people trying to change the way people think about and eat fast food. There are twenty-six people at the Lynnhaven Chipotle. There is a general manager, an apprentice, service manager, kitchen manager and crew. The mission of this group is food with integrity. “Food with integrity is their commitment to finding the very best ingredients raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers” (FOOD, n.d.). They also buy more locally grown produce than other restaurants. Meetings are normally held once or twice a month but managers are always sitting down with the crew and getting their input on the store and seeing what they can help them with. Meetings are held at the store, there are no assigned seats so everyone is free to sit wherever. Their ages range from sixteen to twenty-five years of age, there are more females than males, and ethnicity ranges from Caucasian to African-American to Hispanic. The hierarchy of this team is made up of a general manager, an apprentice, service manager, kitchen manager and crew. The general manager normally starts the meeting. They will start with a topic and then everyone gives their feedback on the topic. The general manager or apprentice then starts the next topic of the meeting. This continues until it is time to wrap up the meeting. The group talks about who is next to being promoted. How close the store is to be coming restaurateur and the themes they gain in order to have a chance of becoming restaurateur. Ideas on how to help the store gain the themes needed, how to pick top performers while interviewing, and who could possibly be a future manager. Everyone gets a chance to say something and no ones ideas are turned down. The term groupthink was coined by psychologist Irving Janis. It relates to the group’s desire to have conformity in the decision making process. If a group has groupthink they will have to worry that members may make the wrong decision because they are trying to keep the harmony in the group, they will conform to whatever he majority of the group is siding on. Groupthink is believed to develop when a group has met three requirements. These requirements were the group was cohesive, the group was isolated from dissenting views, and the group had a leader who signaled the decision he or she favored (Myers, 2010). The Lynnhaven Chipotle team did not meet any of these requirements. The decisions that were made in the meeting were made to help make Chipotle better as a whole and to help make each individual crewmember and manager better. The Lynnhaven Chipotle team is not vulnerable to groupthink based on its definition. They are more concerned about making everyone around them better.
Conformity is defined as changing or adopting behaviors or attitudes to be consistent with the social norms of a group (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2011). There are standards of behavior or social norms expected of each member of the Lynnhaven Chipotle team. Theses norm include talking to customers, solving their problems, how to act in a kitchen and following the safety guidelines. If the crew does not follow the rules there are punishments that follow. They include honest conversations and being written up.
Groups can have significant influence on individuals. Some studies have revealed that social interaction can intensify individual emotions (Barsade & Gibson, 2012). Social interactions can influence group and individual outcomes. Social facilitation is the positive or negative effect on an individual’s performance attributed to the presence of others (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2011). Groups are an important component in the lives of individual’s. They can assist an individual in task during their life. There are standards, rules and organization that groups follow. They can have a negative or positive impact on lives. The team at Chipotle Lynnhaven has a positive impact on the world and people everyday. By changing the way people think about and eat fast food. They work together as a team and everyone cares about everyone like family. They follow rules and focus on making Chipotle and their team better.

References
Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (2012). Group affect: Its influence on individual and group outcomes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(2), 119-123.

FOOD . (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2015, from http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fwi/fwi.aspx

Myers, D. (2010). Social Psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Wood, S. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2011). The world of psychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

References: Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (2012). Group affect: Its influence on individual and group outcomes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(2), 119-123. FOOD . (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2015, from http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fwi/fwi.aspx Myers, D. (2010). Social Psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Wood, S. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2011). The world of psychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.